In article , "George" george@least
wrote:

There is a much more workable solution - respect for the property of others.

It's like the folks that come traipsing across my place - when asked, they
answer "I didn't know who owned it."

"You know _you_ don't. Should be enough."

Instead we get laws and legalism like "who determines what constitutes
'specialty wood, '" and questions on the competence of those who will have
to enforce the law the people's representatives have made.

I sign Christmas tree transport permits as landowner every year. Not really
a problem.

Consider a couple scenarios that might affect woodturners:

1) you own the tree parts that you are carting to a wood meeting to
offer for raffle;
2) you "win" a chunkamapleburl in a raffle in Oregon and cart it home to
Washington;
3) the Big Leaf Maple you have stacked up next to your garage was
obtained long before this law went into effect - how do you prove it was
obtained legally;
4) you come across a line crew removing growth from the vicinity of the
electric lines. They are just going to chip it all up and would gladly
give you what you wanted but you must first locate the property owner
and then visit the county sheriff's office before carting off wood that
has a use beyond the chipper.

Granted all of these have a work-around but the law is creating
criminals out of innocent activities. I can fully understand the desire
to stop rustling but I think there's got to be a better way than to
consider all who possess and/or transport Big Leaf Maple, Alder and
other woods as criminals who rustled their stash from someone's property.

Part of the law that has my boxers in a bunch is the requirement to
obtain a sheriff's permit for each instance instead of a yearly permit
from the state. I'm certain Washington is similar to Oregon and other
states in that the sheriff is located at the county seat - not in every
town - that would be a 40 mile round trip for me in just my county, not
to mention the 4 or 5 other surrounding counties and their respective
sheriff's offices.

I'm sure there are those reading this who think it's much to do about
nothing - after all, it would be pretty easy to conceal much of what we
carry around. But is an officer allowed to search a vehicle he has
stopped for a traffic violation if he spots a chainsaw or bark pieces on
the floormat? Will the occifers be following the musical notes of a
chainsaw to ensure the proper permits and permissions have been
obtained? Will the woodturning club members be forced to the backroads
to and from meetings in the vein of moonshiners? Laugh if you want but
consider if your state put in a similar law covering Black Walnut,
Cherry, Mesquite, Norfolk Is. Pine, etcetera.